The University of Florida’s College of Medicine rose in the U.S. News and World Report rankings for the second year in a row. The rankings were released on Tuesday.

The College is ranked 42th, up three spots from 45nd in 2013. It is Florida’s highest-ranked medical school, and 17th among the nation’s public medical schools.

“Over last four year there’s been a significant investment in UF Health in general,” said Stephen P. Sugrue, the senior associate dean for research affairs at the College. “This investment is starting to pay off.”

Sugrue noted that the College has received a cumulative 37 percent increase in funding from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) over the past four years — at a time when the NIH has had to curtail research funding.

“The College has been fighting against the current,” Sugrue said, adding that last year, NIH funding to the College increased 1.5 percent, compared to a 5 percent overall decrease throughout the nation.

“That’s largely due to the faculty slugging away in putting in grant proposals,” Sugrue said, adding that collaborative “team science” efforts account for most of those grants.

Sugrue noted particular gains for UF research grants in neurogenetics, diabetes, and infectious diseases. New faculty are responsible for about half the grants, he added.

UF’s medical research success also goes in tandem with the success of UF Health Shands Hospital, he said.

“A lot of these projects need very successful hospital system.”

The U.S. News and World Report rankings are based on factors such as NIH funding, peer reviews from medical school leaders, incoming students’ GPA and MCAT scores, and faculty-to-student ratios. The annual rankings, which cover all types of graduate schools, are in their 29th year.